Monday Mentors with Dallas Litigator Brandon Lewis

Brandon Lewis, partner with the Dallas litigation boutique Reid Collins & Tsai, joins us on today's show! Brandon talks about how COVID is impacting jurisdictions differently, reading great writing to improve your writing, and the importance of attention to detail.

COVID-19 Update (Recorded 7/16/20)

• Shuttered offices in early March and haven't been back; firm is geared toward working remotely
• They have a NYC office
• Use tools: Office 365/Teams/Zoom but stay home
• Courts shut everything down
  • different state Supreme Courts came out with new orders regularly and it was a challenge to keep up with the rules of the road for each jurisdiction
  • Deadlines extended / statute of limitations suspended
• Some hearings have been done virtually
• Some Zoom mediations
• He hasn't done a Zoom deposition though others in his firm have
• Mostly pushing things off so they can resume more normal operations
• Learning from others how to work from home has been important
  • maintain schedule
  • get dressed in work clothes
  • forgive yourself for struggling and give yourself some grace

His firm/practice:

• Litigation boutique of 34 attorneys specializing in complex commercial litigation; director/officer liability; financial frauds/insolvency; professional malpractice.
  • almost all of the work is from the plaintiff side
• Offices in Austin, Dallas, Washington, D.C., and New York
• There is a lot changing on the bankruptcy side in the wake of COVID
  • much of their work arises when a company goes bankrupt
  • statutes of limitations
  • new laws for relief
  • U.S. Supreme Court decision on 546e (the "Safe Harbor" provision") of the Bankruptcy Code
• COVID will create a wave of bankruptcies that will ultimately lead to resulting litigation
  • silver lining is that fraudsters will be exposed

Advice to lawyers:

• Read Mark Herrmann's The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law
  • short, easy read
  • tons of great advice
• Read good writing; think like a lawyer and never write like one
  • Bryan Garner preaches this
  • Want the judge who reads your work to think Hemingway, not "comes now the plaintiff..."
  • Best way to write like this is read excellent writing by others
• Attention to detail is crucial; table stakes
  • This will show up in your written work product
    • When you are done, print it, hold it in your hands, pick up a pen and go through it.
      • will help you catch typos, grammar, etc.
      • spell-check isn't perfect and your eyes won't see everything when it's on screen
      • Read it back to front (one paragraph at a time)
    • It is not the partner's job to catch your typos
• If a partner gives you an assignment, don't just answer his/her question...solve the problem.
  • Just answering the question assumes the partner asked the right question in the right way, and much of the time that is not the case; assume they asked the question too narrowly or clumsily
  • Therefore answering the question will likely lead to a follow up question; anticipate that and take the next step to ultimately solve the problem
  • that makes you indispensable, and indispensable associates are the ones who become partners
• Your first client is your partner; that is the person who feeds you work. Keep them happy and it will build your reputation both in the firm and beyond.
  • Clients will hear about you by word-of-mouth
• Be purposeful/target in your community/organizational involvement
  • add value

Advice to lawyers seeking a job

• Attention to detail in documents is key; no typos, no generic cover letters
  • need to know you want a job at this firm doing what we do
• Experience level / writing sample that highlights that
• Since most are coming from out of state, want to know why Dallas? How likely are you to stay?
• They will ask you to talk about the most interesting/complex case you have worked on; can you explain it to someone who has never heard about it before? That will show them whether you can explain something to a jury/judge.

Rapid Fire questions

• Trait/characteristic - good judgment
• Habit key to success - learning from mistakes and borrowing from others' ideas
• Favorite app/tool - Outlook Calendar and OneNote
• Favorite social distancing activity - cooking for the family (especially pork chops)
• Favorite legal movie - A Civil Action

Thanks again to Brandon Lewis for coming on the show!